Remains identified as missing Hampshire woman

HAMPSHIRE – The skeletal remains found just outside the village of Hampshire were positively identified Monday as the body of a woman missing since May, police said.

Kathleen S. Wilk, 52, of Hampshire, was last seen May 6 near the Lakewood Crossings subdivision where she lived, the Kane County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. The remains were discovered Friday morning three houses down from her home.

The cause of death is undetermined, and an autopsy is not possible, said a spokesman for the office, Lt. Pat Gengler.

However, investigators suspect that the death was a suicide because Wilk had attempted suicide at least once before and Hampshire police found a note in the investigation immediately after her disappearance, he said.

That means unless new information surfaces, for all intents and purposes, the case is closed.

Hampshire police restarted their search last week because the heavily wooded are behind the Lakewood Crossings subdivision had thinned out recently as the weather turned, the release said.

– Emily K. Coleman

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